About 30 years ago, I was asked to set up a festival for the opening of a new museum in the Hudson Valley. As all the performers were my friends [and, to this day, still are] I was able to get them for "free," having arranged food, gas and lodging. We had a wonderful day performance on Saturday. On Saturday night, we had one paid admission, so we returned that person's money and had a music party until the wee hours. Sunday, we again had a large audience.

No one had told us that we were up against 3 [yes, 3] entrenched events on Saturday night. Planning pays, as does local knowledge.